Pages

Thursday, November 03, 2011

We Will Serve the Lord -- A Lectionary Reflection

Joshua
24:1-3a, 14-25

1
Thessalonians 4:13-18

Matthew
25:1-13

We
Will Serve the Lord

The
phrase “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” has long been bandied
about in religious circles. It’s a nice defining statement, a line in the
sand. You can serve your gods if you
want, but we’re God’s people, and we’re going to go with God. There’s a parallel in the response of Peter
and John to the Sanhedrin – who are we going to listen to – you or God? As for us, we’re going to keep on telling our
story about our experiences with Jesus (Acts 4:18-20). Of course, it’s much easier to declare our
allegiances than to really abide by our statements. How often do we find ourselves making choices
that seem to contradict our statements of allegiance? We say we’re going to serve God alone, but
then culture, family, and our desires take us in a different direction. In fact, we often reconfigure our faith to
fit with our vision of reality. We did
this after Constantine embraced Christianity.
We do it now in America by confusing political goals with spiritual
ones. And don’t think that the other
side has the monopoly on confusing these goals.
There is myopia in us all. So,
will we serve the Lord, and when called upon will we be ready to go and do as
we’ve been asked?

There
are three passages before us. One tells
the story of Joshua making a covenant with Israel, asking them whether they
will serve the Lord. The second passage
is rather disconcerting for some of us because it has been the basis of a
particular doctrine causes us fits, but it is intended as a word of grace and
hope. And finally, in the gospel reading
we hear a parable, reminding us that it’s important to stay at the ready. It’s not yet Advent, but the warning has been
issued – stay awake; be ready, for the day will come, and it may be unexpected. If only it was that easy!!

I
begin our conversation in Joshua, which is a book that can be rather disturbing
to our modern sensibilities, especially in light of those efforts at ethnic
cleansing we’ve seen occur over the past two centuries. By this point in the story the Hebrews have
crossed the river, and beginning with Jericho, have occupied the land, with God
taking the lead in pushing aside the Canaanites who had inhabited this
land. For the writers of this text, this
is as it should be, for the land has been promised to this people, and by
rights they should occupy it. Of
course, that has been the mantra of conquering forces from time immemorial. It is the message behind America’s doctrine
of Manifest Destiny. This is the dark
side of our story, one that maybe we’d just as soon put aside (or do we?). Whether or not we’re discomforted by this
part of the story, it is part of the story that invites us to consider the
question: Who will you serve?

With occupation well
underway, the story of Joshua comes to a close with an invitation for the
people of Israel, now having a home to call their own, to stay true to their
covenant with the God who led them out of slavery and into the Promised
Land. Knowing that Joshua is written long after the
deeds described are said to have happened, it’s useful to remember that according
to the broader story, the nation of Israel continually chased after other gods
– even as we do. The question that is
raised here concerns whether there hope of forgiveness. Is the LORD a jealous God who will wipe us
out or will the LORD have mercy on us?
How long will we try God’s patience?
These are all questions that should cause us pause as we attend to a
passage like the one before us.

At
this point in the story God has finished the job of cleansing the land,
territory has been occupied, but now that they’ve occupied this land it’s time
to renew the covenant that God had made with the people in Sinai. Will they live in faithfulness now that the
journey has ended and they’ve taken up residence in the Land? They gather at Shechem, long the center of
life for this people. It was, according
to Genesis the home of Abraham and then Jacob.
It’s the place where Joseph was buried, and now the tribes gather
together to renew their covenant. Joshua
takes on the mantle of prophet and reminds them – on behalf of Yahweh – that
God had called out Abraham from beyond the River Euphrates to come to this
place so that his offspring might be many.
The reference to Egypt is a reminder too that the people had been led
from bondage to this place to make their home.
In both places there had been the temptation to worship other gods, but
in this place they are to forsake all others and devote themselves to serving
Yahweh. Will they do this? Will they reaffirm the covenant and walk in
its ways with sincerity and faithfulness? They answer Joshua – “We will serve the Lord,
he is our God.” Yes, we will serve and
obey the God who has led us out of slavery and into this Promised Land. With that Joshua makes the covenant and
establishes the rules by which they will dwell in it. As for us – who will we serve?

The
Pauline text takes us in a somewhat different direction. If there is a text that undergirds the idea
of a “rapture” that has caught the imagination of so many people and leading to
a entire publishing industry of books from The
Late Great Planet Earth, which swept us up during my youth to the more
recent Left Behind series. Here is one of those texts that reminds us
that the early Christians held out hope that the return of Christ would come
quickly, that this era in God’s economy, would give way to a new kingdom with
Christ as ruler. Paul writes to a people
concerned that they might have been “left behind.” I can’t go into a deep discussion of the idea
of rapture. For that discussion, one
would be wise to turn to Barbara Rossing’s The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in the Book of Revelation.The point here is a
word of encouragement – When Christ returns, the dead will be with him, and the
living will meet him as he descends from the heavens. Don’t lose heart, simply be ready. Don’t grieve for the dead, for we are people
of hope. The word of hope is that the
same resurrection that Jesus experienced, the people of God will also
experience. This text invites us to
wrestle with this who question of afterlife.
I realize that there are many Christians who find this discussion
distracting, and yet for many people, perhaps the vast majority, there is this
need for assurance that this isn’t all there is. Whatever lies beyond the grave, it must offer
the promise of something more. It’s not
to denigrate or distract from the present, but rather simply give hope as we
move forward into the future.

If
Paul is offering of comfort to those who fear they’ve been left behind, in
Matthew 25 we have a parable that warns us to stay awake and be prepared. There are two kinds of people, according to the
parable of the delayed bridegroom and the ten bridesmaids. You can see a change in expectation between
the time that Paul wrote the first Thessalonian letter and the point at which
Matthew writes this gospel. For Paul’s
churches, the expectations of a quick end to this age are still apparent, but
by the time of the writing of the gospel the people are settling in,
recognizing that the return of Christ is delayed.

So
we have this parable of the kingdom.
There are ten bridesmaids who have gone out to meet the bridegroom. Where they have gone isn’t stated, but they
have taken their lamps with them. The
only problem is that five of these bridesmaids took their lamps, but no extra
oil. As they waited they fell asleep,
but at midnight, the warning is issued – the bridegroom is coming, so get ready
to greet him. The wise bridesmaids,
those who thought to bring along extra oil, are ready. Those who were foolish now have empty
lamps. They can’t go and greet the
bridegroom without oil. So they ask if
the wise ones might share. The wise,
however, reply that if they were to share, there would be enough and they too
would not be ready. So go and buy oil
from the dealers. Of course, it’s
midnight, the shops are closed, and it’s too late. But they go anyway, and when they return
(probably the next morning, after the shops have opened), the gates are locked
and as they shout out “Lord, Lord,” the Lord answers “I truly do not know you.”

The
moral of the story is – keep awake, because you don’t know the day or the
hour. It is a message that continues
through time, as the return continues to be delayed. Be awake, be prepared, and don’t get lax in
your devotion to the kingdom of God. As
with the other two texts, there’s a flip side that needs to be
acknowledged. The moral of the story –
keep awake – is one that we hear during Advent, which is on the near
horizon. It’s important to remember that
Advent has two different foci – the first coming, the one celebrated at
Christmas, when a God is revealed to humanity in a child born in Bethlehem
(according to the story told in the infancy narratives, even if scholars today
might raise questions about that story).
The second coming, the return in glory, is also part of the Advent
story. And we’re invited to see the
parallels and the differences between these two appearances. The dark side of the question posed by the
parable is one of scarcity and abundance.
The wise bridesmaids refuse to share, because there won’t be
enough. This is a belief among many
Christians, that there isn’t room enough for us all. But is there a scarcity of grace, or is there
abundance? As we ponder this parable,
this is a question we need to address, even as we stay alert to the presence of
God in our midst.

The
question that all three texts pose is this:
Who will you serve? Will we
answer with Joshua and say “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord?”

About Me

I am a Disciples of Christ pastor, theologian, community activist, historian, teacher. I'm a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary with a M.Div. and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology. I'm the author of a number of books including Marriage in Interesting Times (Energion, 2016) and Freedom in Covenant (Wipf and Stock, 2015).